Horn with buzzer

ABSTRACT

A signaling device which produces a loud signal for distant warning of persons distant from the automotive vehicle and a soft signal for persons near or within the automotive vehicle under controlled conditions. The loud signal is under the control of the driver with the soft signal being under control of selected safety functions.

United States Patent [151 3,696,410 Wetzel et a1. Oct. 3, 1972 154] HORNWITH BUZZER 2,682,655 6/1954 Grohsgal ..340/393 [72] Inventors: wlmam C.Wm], 260 State Park 2,573,924 11/1951 Miller ..340/393 Drive; Raymond W.Long, 1017 Taylor St., both of Bay City, Mich. 48706 Filed: Feb. 17,1971 Appl. No.: 116,189

US. Cl. ..340/393, 340/396, 340/388 Int. Cl. ..G 10k 9/00 Field ofSearch ..340/384, 388, 393, 396, 62,

Primary Examiner-John W. Caldwell Assistant Examiner-William M. WanniskyAttorney-D. Henry Stoltenberg [57] ABSTRACT A signaling device whichproduces a loud signal for distant warning of persons distant from theautomotive vehicle and a soft signal for persons near or within theautomotive vehicle under controlled conditions. The loud signal is underthe control of the driver with the soft signal being under control ofselected safety functions.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTED 0m 3 I972 I.\\'EF JTORS. WILLIAM C.WETZEL RAYMOND W. LONG BY ATTORNEY norm wmr BUZZER BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION With the increase of theft of automotive vehicles by juvenilesand others, due to the carelessness of drivers by leaving keys in theignition lock, and the increase of thievery by taking of articles in theautomobile again due to carelessness by not locking the doors thereof,automobile manufactures have been adding signalling devices to warn thedriver of unfulfilled safety functions, usually in the form of a buzzerwhich is activated when certain selected safety functions have not beenperformed, such as removing the ignition key from the ignition lock orfailure to lock the doors of the automobile upon leaving the same inparked position. The present invention contemplates the provision of awarning device such as a buzzer integrated with the conventional airhornwhereby a cheaper device is made available and also one which is incasedin the horn housing for protection from atmospheric conditions forgreater durability. At the same time, the diaphragm and housingarrangements of the conventional horn amplify the warning sounds to makethe warning signal more audible to the driver and therefore of greaterefficacy to attain the desired end.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore a principal object of thisinvention to provide a dual function warning device, which will emit aloud warning signal for distant persons under the control of theoperator of an automotive vehicle, and which will emit a soft warningsignal for warning the operator of the automotive vehicle that selectedsafety functions have not been performed under selected conditions.

Other objects and advantages of this invention relating to thearrangement, operation and function of the related elements of thestructure, to various details of construction, to combinations of partsand to economies of manufacture will be apparent to those skilled in theart upon consideration of the following description and appended claims,reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of thisspecification wherein like reference characters designate correspondingparts in the several views.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. I is a plan view of a conventionalhorn showing the position of the warning device incorporating theinvention.

FIG. 2, is an elevational view partly in section of the horn shown inFIG. 1.

FIG. 3, is an enlarged elevational view showing the parts of the warningdevice shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4, is an enlarged plan view of the warning device shown in FIG. 3;and

FIG. 5, is a schematic diagram of connections of both warning deviceswith the switches cooperating with the selected safety functions.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawingsparticularly FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional air horn is shown, whichconsists of a resonating air chamber 10, a front face plate 12, a

vibratory diaphragm l4 cooperating with the face plate 12, andelectromagnetic motor mechanism 16 positioned in a housing member 18.The motor mechanism 16 drives the vibratory diaphragm to create an airnote which is under the control of an operator of an automotive vehicleon which the horn is mounted to give a warning signal to persons at somedistance from the automotive vehicle. The loudness of the warning signalgiven may be a high as decibels when measured under standardmanufacturing procedures and may therefore be heard by persons at aconsiderable distance from the vehicle.

The motor mechanism 16 is mounted in a protective chamber formed betweenthe housing member 18 and the diaphragm 14 with the face plate 18, allas described and claimed in application Ser. No. 760,412, filed Sept.18, 1968, which has matured into US. Pat. No. 3,562,748 assigned to thesame assignee. Connection to a source of electrical power such as abattery B for the air horn is made by terminals 20 and 22 connected incircuit as shown schematically in FIG. 5, in series circuit with hornbutton 24 which places the operation of the air horn under the controlof the operator of the motor vehicle. In the protective chamber 18a, asecond vibratory device 26 is mounted as shown in plan view in FIG. 1and in enlarged views in FIGS. 3 and 4. The vibratory device isessentially a buzzer whose armature oscillations cause a warning soundof relatively low volume, intended to warn persons very near or in theautomotive vehicle that some safety function has not been performedwhich should be performed for the sake of safety. The fact that thebuzzer is mounted in the interior of the main horn body in the chamber18a not only protects the elements of the device from atmosphericconditions but also causes substantial amplification of the sound.

The terminals 20 and 22 for the air horn are attached to the housing 18by rivet 28 in a conventional circuit which energizes the horn elementsfrom the battery B when the operator closes horn switch 24 as shown inFIG. 5. The rivet 28 also attaches the fixed contact 30 of the vibratorybuzzer 26 to the housing 18 as shown in FIG. 3, the contact 30 beingmounted on the end of a U-shaped spring member 30a, the other end beingprovided with an upwardly displaced head 30b which cooperates with therivet 28. The rivet 28 placed the contact 30 in circuit with the battery8 via the terminal 20 as seen in FIG. 5.

The movable contact 32 is mounted on the end of a spring strip 34anchored on a lateral projection 36 of a molded insulating core 38 by arivet 40. The projection 36 is provided with a raised portion 36a whoseterminal surface is obliquely slanted where it cooperates with the strip34 whereby the movable contact 32 is resiliently urged toward the fixedcontact 30. The insulating core 38 is shaped as a spool to hold anelectromagnetic actuating coil 42, all being mounted on the housing 18by magnetic rivet 44 insulated therefrom in a conventional manner. Therivet 44 also affixes the terminal 46 which is in electrical circuitwith the rivet and also with one end of the coil 42. The other end 42aof the coil 42 is in circuit with the rivet 40 and with the movablecontact 32 so that when the coil 42 is energized from the battery B, anarmature 48 is attracted by the magnetic field created by the coil tomove the movable contact 32 upwardly to open the coil circuit. Thearmature 48 is attached to the spring 34 by bent lugs 48 a as shown inFIG. 3. This action causes vibratory motion of the armature 48 for thespring strip 34 and will again close the contacts 30 and 32 by itsresilient bias when the circuit through the coil 42 is broken. Thiscreates a buzzing sound which is amplified by the housing 18 and also bythe diaphragm 14 to warn the operator of some safety function which mustbe performed by him.

Switches 50, 52 and 54 shown in FIG. may be opened or closed as thesituation warrants by some safety function which must be performed bythe operator and may consist of various elements for performance, suchas removal of the key from the ignition switch, turning out of lights,locking of doors and the like safety functions which should be performedby the operator of the automotive vehicle.

It is to be understood that the above detailed description of thepresent invention is intended to disclose an embodiment thereof to thoseskilled in the art, but that the invention is not to be construed aslimited in its application to the details of construction andarrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawing since theinvention is capable of being practiced and carried out in various wayswithout departing from the spirit of the invention. The language used inthe specification relating to the operation and function of the elementsof the invention is employed for purposes of 3() air space therein, afirst vibratory means located within said air space and directly securedto said diaphragm to vibrate said diaphragm along a vibratory axisgenerally normal to said diaphragm to provide an audible signal ofrelatively high volume, a second vibratory means located within said airspace but not directly secured to said diaphragm, said second vibratorymeans positioned to vibrate within said air space on an axis parallel tothe vibratory axis of said diaphragm to provide an audible signal ofrelative low volume, and first and second magnetic means connectedrespectively to said first and second vibratory means for causing thelatter to vibrate upon energizing said magnetic means.

2. The signaling device of claim 1 wherein said first and secondmagnetic means are electrical coils secured directly to said housingwith the axes of said coils being parallel.

3. A dual signal horn and buzzer for automotive use comprising, incombination, a housing, a movable flexible diaphragm extending acrossthe interior of said housing to define a resonant air space therein, afirst magnetically driven vibrator located within said air space anddirectly secured to said diaphragm to vibrate said diaphragm on avibratory axis generally normal to said diaphragm to create an audiblesignal of relatively high volume, a second magnetically driven vibratorlocated within said air space but not directly secured to said diaphragmand positioned to vibrate entirely wit in said ai space to cr ate anudible signal of relatlve y low vo ume, and e ectrica means or applyingenergy to each of first and second magnetically driven vibrators.

4. The dual signal horn and buzzer of claim 3 wherein said first andsecond magnetic vibrators are electrical coils secured directly to saidhousing with the axes of said coils being parallel.

1. A signaling device comprising, in combination, a housing, a movableflexible diaphragm extending across the interior of said housing todefine a resonant air space therein, a first vibratory means locatedwithin said air space and directly secured to said diaphragm to vibratesaid diaphragm along a vibratory axis generally normal to said diaphragmto provide an audible signal of relatively high volume, a secondvibratory means located within said air space but not directly securedto said diaphragm, said second vibratory means positioned to vibratewithin said air space on an axis parallel to the vibratory axis of saiddiaphragm to provide an audible signal of relative low volume, and firstand second magnetic means connected respectively to said first andsecond vibratory means for causing the latter to vibrate upon energizingsaid magnetic means.
 2. The signaling device of claim 1 wherein saidfirst and second magnetic means are electrical coils secured directly tosaid housing with the axes of said coils being parallel.
 3. A dualsignal horn and buzzer for automotive use comprising, in combination, ahousing, a movable flexible diaphragm extending across the interior ofsaid housing to define a resonant air space therein, a firstmagnetically driven vibrator located within said air space and directlysecured to said diaphragm to vibrate said diaphragm on a vibratory axisgenerally normal to said diaphragm to create an audible signal ofrelatively high volume, a second magnetically driven vibrator locatedwithin said air space but not directly secured to said diaphragm andpositioned to vibrate entirely within said air space to create anaudible signal of relatively low volume, and electrical means forapplying energy to each of first and second magnetically drivenvibrators.
 4. The dual signal horn and buzzer of claim 3 wherein saidfirst and second magnetic vibrators are electrical coils secureddirectly to said housing with the axes of said coils being parallel.